
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, right, speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 10, 2023, as White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens at left. AP
It was the first official comment from the White house on a reportedly leaked Top Secret US document alleging that Cairo was planning to supply Moscow with lethal weapons.
In a press conference held on board Air Force One on its route to Ireland, White House officials were asked on whether Washington addressed Egypt after the Washington Post cited in a report on Monday on leaked Top Secret US document which purportedly indicate that Egypt was planning to supply 40,000 missiles to Russia secretly.
“I am not going speak about the validity of these documents, but I will tell you is that we have seen no indication that Egypt is providing lethal weapon capabilities to Russia,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
“I am not going to talk about it all about the details of diplomatic conversations we are having. We are reaching out and speaking properly with our allies and partners,” Kirby added.
“The United States Military has a long-standing defence relationship with Egypt that goes back many years. Egypt helps play a useful role in terms of some of the negotiations that have been going on in the region, particularly in these meetings that happened between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Egypt played a role in and the US is grateful for that,” he added.
Earlier today, an informed Egyptian source denied in statements to Al-Qahera News claims that Egypt was supplying Russia with lethal weapons, describing the leaked documented as a fabrication.
Also on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the reports about Egypt's alleged missile supplies to Russia looked like another misinformation campaign and should be treated as such.
Cairo has maintained open lines of communication with both Kyiv and Moscow in an attempt to encourage negotiations and a peaceful settlement.
Cairo has also called on several occasions for an immediate cease of operations in the war in Ukraine to open space for a political solution.
The documents, which were posted on sites such as Twitter and Reddit, are labeled secret and resemble routine updates that the U.S. military's Joint Staff would produce daily but not distribute publicly.
The New York Times was the first to report about the documents on Friday.
Later Friday, the Times reported that more documents involving Ukraine as well as other sensitive national security topics such as China and the Middle East had begun appearing on social media.
The documents, which are more than one hundred pages that date from 23 February to 1 March 2023, provide what appear to be details on the progress of weapons and equipment going into Ukraine with more precise timelines and amounts than the US generally provides publicly.
Pentagon officials said that the leak poses a “very serious” risk to national security and an investigation was opened to determine its source.
Nevertheless, these officials declined to confirm or refute the content in those leaked documents.
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